Windows Server 2003 Datacenter edition is the most powerful version Windows 2003 family. Datacenter Server builds on the foundation provided by the Standard and Enterprise editions. I have been asked many times if it still exisits and how to get it.

Datacenter edition requires an 8-32 CPU system (yes a minimum of 8 CPUs), with up to 64GB of RAM (512GB for the 64bit version) and can support up to 4 servers in a cluster. It does not included ICF/ICS or support for bridging NICs. Microsoft designed Datacenter Server as the most stable, reliable, and powerful version of Windows Server 2003.

Datacenter Server is targeted to larger operations that require powerful, reliable and most importantly, stable servers. Microsoft conducted numerous studies and evaluated multitudes of crash reports and determined that drivers are the number one cause of crashes. A device driver is a software program that allows Windows to interact with a server’s hardware, including its disk drives, video cards, network cards etc.... Because the operating system and drivers work together so closely, a bug in a driver can easily crash the entire operating system.

When Microsoft built Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, the decision was made to attempt to eliminate, or at least signifigantly reduce driver related problems. They did this by creating a certification program for major manufacturers of server hardware. Manufacturer's must submit hardware and drivers for testing. Once the hardware and drivers pass they are certified for Datacenter edition and can be purchased only with a hardware server that has pass Microsoft's certification. This means that the hardware and drivers have been certified by Microsoft as being compatible with the Windows Server Datacenter edition.

Previously you could only purchase Datacenter through OEM channels, pre-installed on certified hardware. This has changed in 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition. You can now purchase this through VLK and Partner channels as well as through OEMs. The other big change to Datacenter licensing is the unlimited virtual licenses. With 2003 R2 Datacenter edition you can run as many instances of a virtual machine running any version of Windows 2003.